Leeds United's £3.8m cat among the pigeons could follow transfer pattern with fast-tracked impact - YEP 27/9/22

Willy Gnonto will report back to Leeds United training later this week with a few bumps, bruises and a spring in his step.

By Graham Smyth

A strange twist of footballing irony will see the 18-year-old fall in behind players who could only watch this week's Nations League on television, while he started in it for Italy.

Patrick Bamford's injury woes derailed his England hopes last season and left him with a little too much to do at the start of this one, even before that set-back he picked up at Southampton, while Jack Harrison's scintillating start to the campaign, rightly or wrongly, wasn't quite enough to force Gareth Southgate's hand.

And while the pair looked on, from the outside, as England stumbled through another awkward week of Nations League action, their new team-mate Gnonto was making further strides in his senior international career.

Without making a senior appearance for the club he joined on deadline day, Gnonto has added serious value to his price tag just with the scale of his involvement for Italy.

Leeds paid a relative pittance for a prospect and due to the last-minute nature of his arrival, sent him home to pack on the weekend of their only fixture since, so we are yet to see exactly where he lies in Jesse Marsch's pecking order.

What we have seen of him has mostly come in international football.

His performance, against Hungary, did not appear to curry much favour with his nation's press but as a raw teenage prospect he did enough to cause problems for a very decent international side who kept clean sheets against Germany and England in their previous two games.

It was Gnonto's alertness and bravery that took advantage of slack passing and left Giacomo Raspadori with a simple task of finding an empty net.

But any suggestion that Roberto Mancini's centre-forward of choice against Hungary should be a starter for Jesse Marsch against Aston Villa on Sunday must be tempered by the wider picture and the context at play.

Marsch's own comments, made long before it became apparent that Gnonto's arrival would be fast-tracked from January to the final minutes of the summer window, that Gnonto is not quite 'Premier League ready' are not entirely incompatible with a place in the Italy line-up.

This is an Italy side, after all, going through a period of transition, with a measure of experimentation taking place.

And the Premier League is a different animal altogether from the Nations League, even in games that count for something, as Italy's meeting with Hungary did.

Internationals far more seasoned and experienced than Gnonto have taken time to adapt to the English top flight, as Rodrigo, who came to Elland Road as Spain's number nine, will attest.

Aside from all of that, it's difficult to see where Gnonto would fit in any of the four starting roles in Marsch's attacking line.

As mentioned above, Harrison has been at his creative best and looks more like the player who plagued Premier League defences in 2020/21 than the one who scored goals but struggled generally in possession last term.

Luis Sinisterra has landed in the Premier League with an almighty bang, adding goal threat from long range and continuing his scoring form with Colombia.

Brenden Aaronson is another you just could not see coming out of the side after such an impressive first few weeks in England and in the centre-forward spot Marsch already has a headache forming with Bamford fit again and looking sharp, albeit in 21s action, and Rodrigo boasting four goals from six games.

If Gnonto is a starter for Leeds, right now, then someone either in form or influential will have to drop out.

What is more likely is that Gnonto's international exploits fast-track his route to the matchday squad and he becomes an option for Marsch sooner than most expected when he signed on deadline day.

Even after his performance in the rout of Southampton Under 21s at Elland Road, Michael Skubala was keen to keep expectations on the ground.

"I think it's early days. I think it's really early days,” said the 21s head coach.

"I think for us to get Willy in the building and start working out and see what we can develop – you've seen what he can do in possession.

"That takes time and as we see more, as Jesse sees more, then Jesse makes those decisions, really.”

Crysencio Summerville, a player currently caught in that no-man's land between the 21s football for which he is far too good and the Premier League for which he is yet unproven, would have something to say about Gnonto coming off the bench to play a second half wing role, but that's a good situation for Marsch and Leeds.

Suddenly the exit to Fulham of Daniel James appears less risky and the senior attacking options appear bolstered. Competitiion is healthy. Keeping players on their toes is ideal. Having someone and something different in your offensive arsenal is useful. And there is safety in numbers and strength in depth, something Leeds lacked last season.

So the Gnonto situation, as strange as it might be on the face of it, is a good one in general. What he will be for Marsch and when are yet to be determined, but for now he's the £3.8m cat among the pigeons.